Elf
by LeighKelly
Summary: Brittany was raised by elves in the North Pole after a mixup on Christmas Eve when she was a baby. After learning her true parentage, she comes to New York City to get her mom off the Naughty List and finds love along the way.
1. Chapter 1

Once upon a time, at an orphanage in New York City, a baby girl was put to sleep by the one of the nuns who cared for the children. It was Christmas Eve night, and when a red-suited stranger entered the room where the tiny girl slept beside so many others like her, she grew curious. That was one of the things that the nuns always said about her, she was the most curious little girl they'd ever seen. They thought that she would make such a good child for a family in want of a baby, but time and again, she was passed up for someone else.

While the red-suited man piled presents beneath the meager Christmas tree, the baby girl managed to escape from her crib. She slid down the sheets and crawled across the room, finding a big, brown, open bag beside the fireplace. There was a teddy bear sticking out from the bag, and the little girl decided that she had to have it. When she grabbed hold, she noticed that it wasn't the only thing in the bag and so she crawled further inside. Before she knew it, she had reached the bottom and the sack closed around her, leaving her trapped inside.

She was all giggles and smiles as she played with the toys in the bag while the red-suited man made his rounds on Christmas Eve night and when he returned home and set his bag down in a room full of his treasured workers, the baby girl crawled out, being met by surprised and excited faces.

"What in the name of Sam Hill is that?" Asked the red-suited man, looking down at the baby.

"It's a human!" One of the elves cried, kneeling down to have a look at her. "Santa! It's a human!"

"Now how did you get in here, little one?" Santa scooped her up and she laughed as his whiskers tickled her chin. "What are we supposed to do with you?"

"Santa." One of the older elves shuffled forward, he'd wanted so long to have a baby of his own, but he'd been so caught up in his work that he'd never found the time to settled down. "Let me raise her."

"As you wish, Pierce. Seems like it'll be too hard to figure out where she came from now."

Pierce the elf took the baby into his home and raised her as his home, calling her Brittany after the first name he noticed on Santa's nice list. She grew twice as fast as he and the other elves expected and by the time she was eight, she was taller than Pierce and all the others. Brittany didn't seem to notice though, she went to school with the other elf children and before long, Pierce took her into the garage with Santa's sleigh and started her on her tinker training.

Everyone was surprised that Brittany never figured out that she wasn't an elf, but it became common knowledge among the elves that no one should ever tell her. She would figure it out when she was ready and Pierce was very protective of her. Even as she grew into adulthood, he wanted to keep the little girl he raised as his very own safe from anything that might hurt her. The problem was, when she began building toys with the other elves, it became increasingly apparent that she wasn't like the others.

"Jingles." Brittany looked up at the head-elf one day while she was hard at work building Etch-a-Sketches. "I think I'm going to be a little behind schedule."

"That's alright, Brittany. How many did you get done?"

"Um…eighty-seven."

"Eighty…seven?" Jingles opened up his scroll and looked down at his chart. "Well, that puts you nine-hundred-seventeen behind schedule."

"I'm sorry." She frowned, tinkering with the toy in her hands.

Frustrated with the slow progress, Jingles put Brittany where he put the other special elves, in toy testing. Brittany was miserable, being scared out of her pants every time she turned a Jack-in-the-Box and he jumped out at her. Still though, she worked hard, trying to make her Papa Elf proud of her. On the second day, she heard Jingles talking and she peeked her head up over the rafters that were barely tall enough to hold her in.

"Can you help me pick up the slack on those Etch-a-Sketches, Delfy? We're still behind from where Brittany left us. She's killing me."

"You got it, boss. Do you think she'll ever figure it out?"

"If she hasn't figured out that she's human yet, she never will."

Brittany's whole world felt like it was spinning out of control when she heard the words "she's human" and she tried to get a grip on herself. Her whole life passed before her eyes, from the fact that she'd been taller than Papa Elf since she was a kid to the fact that she was always picked first at basketball so she could dunk the ball. But _human? _All she had ever known was being an elf and if she was human, then where did she _come _from? Head still reeling, she walked out into the workshop and Jingles looked up at her.

"Hey Brittany, are you okay?"

"I…just need a little water." She told him, before fainting face forward and nearly crushing Delfy.

When she came to, she ran home as fast as she could and locked herself in the bathroom. Her knees touched her chin as she crouched down on the toilet seat and she could hear Papa Elf banging on the door. She didn't want to talk to him, she didn't want to talk to anyone. All she wanted was to go back in time to before she learned that her whole life was a lie. But she knew she couldn't avoid him, her father had a way about him that meant he wouldn't go away until she would talk to him.

"Please, Papa. I just want to be alone."

"Brittany, I think we need to talk." Pierce called gently

"I don't wanna."

"I know, but we should have had this conversation a long time ago. Come out now please."

Sniffling, Brittany stood up and let herself out of the bathroom, ducking under the door. She followed Papa Elf into the living room and when he sat in his cozy chair, she sat right down on his lap. She had always known that she was too big to sit there any longer, but she didn't care, she loved being close to her dad and he never seemed to mind.

"Jingles said I'm a human." She sniffled. "Is that true?"

"It's true, honey." Pierce told her, patting her leg. "You came to the North Pole when you were just a baby and I took you in and raised you. Once you got bigger than all the other elves and hadn't figured it out, I was hoping you never would."

"But how did I get here?"

"You crawled into Santa's sack and he brought you here. It took Santa awhile to figure out where you came from, but it turns out, you came from an orphanage in New York City after your mother put you up for adoption."

"New York City? That sounds like a magical place."

"Here, stand up." Pierce gently got Brittany off his lap and went over to his shelf to pull down a snow globe. "_This _is New York City and this building right here is the Empire State Building. That's where your mother works."

"My _mother? _I have a _mother?"_

"Her name is Whitney Pierce, absolutely no relation to me and she was very young when you were born."

"I need to see her, Papa Elf! How do I get to New York City?"

"I think before you do anything." Pierce raised an eye brow. "We ought to talk to Santa."

Normally, just before Christmas, it was impossible to get an appointment with Santa, what with all the running around he had to do to get ready for his big night, but considering the big reveal of Brittany's parentage, he made an exception and called for Pierce and Brittany to come to his cottage. The whole way over there, Brittany was incredibly nervous and still kept wishing that she didn't know anything about Whitney Pierce and New York, but it was a little late for that and part of her was…fascinated. She had never left the North Pole before…at least not that she remembered, and the idea that she had a mother, something that she had always wanted even though Papa Elf had been an amazing father, so she wanted to find her.

"Well Brittany, I can't say I was looking forward to this day coming." Santa started. "But here we are."

"I'm really not an elf?"

"You're really not an elf. But that doesn't mean you're any less special in the North Pole."

"I want to find my mother."

"Before you go on off to New York City, there are a few things I ought to tell you. One: gum you find on the street is not free candy, don't touch it. Two: if you see something called a peep show, that doesn't mean you get a sneak peak at Christmas presents, stay away. Three: there's something about your mother."

"What about her?"

"You're not going to like to hear this, but…she's on the Naughty List."

"The Naughty List?!" Brittany screamed, face contorted in horror. "How did this happen?"

"Now, now. You know that the Naughty List isn't permanent, sometimes people just lose their Christmas Spirit and need help finding it. I think you might be able to help her get it back."

"So I can go?"

"You can go."

It took Brittany nearly two days to get across the river at the North Pole, through the Candy Cane Forest and eventually walk through the Lincoln Tunnel, but when she reached New York City, she was absolutely amazed. Maybe she had always been a little easy to please, but the city looked like the most wonderful thing she had ever seen and she couldn't even stop long enough to admire everything because she was so desperate to get to her mother. But she _did _take time to congratulate the diner that won the world's best cup of coffee—because how cool is _that?—_and take paper after paper from the guys outside of the store that claimed everything was one dollar. Only one dollar! That was like Christmas every day!

She looked down at her snow globe and then up at the building in front of her when she reached the Empire State Building and she was sure that she was in the right place. Her mother was in that building, on the fifteenth floor, Santa had told her and she was just _so _excited to meet her. Brittany had never seen an elevator before, so when she got in, she excitedly pushed every single button, lighting up the panel like a Christmas tree and showing the man next to her who didn't seem nearly as excited as she was. She was even so excited that she forgot to give him a hug as she got out on the fifteenth floor and approached the woman sitting at a desk.

"Hi! Are you Whitney Pierce? I'm Brittany the Elf!"

"Oh how cute! A Christmas-Gram! Hold on just one second." The woman pushed a button on her desk and Brittany heard a grumbling woman's voice on the other end. "Mrs. Pierce, you have a Christmas-Gram!"

"I want a Christmas-Gram!" Brittany clapped her hands together. "What is that?"

"Oh, you are too cute! Go on in, she's expecting you."

"Mom!" Brittany cried out when she walked in the door of the closed office. "You're here! Hi! Can I give you a hug?"

"What the hell is this?" Whitney snapped. "Who sent you?"

"I came from the North Pole, just to see you!"

"Right, right. Just get on with it, sing your song so I can get back to work."

"A song? You want me to sing a song?" The crowd began to gather in the office and Brittany blushed a little bit. "Okay…um. Merry Christmas! You're my mom and you want me to sing, so I'm sing-ing. Mommy! I love you! I love you! I love you!"

"That was…something. Normally they just put my name into 'Jingle Bells' or something."

"So can I hug you now, Mom?"

"Someone call security." Whitney snapped. "Does this look like the place for a joke to you?"

"But—"

Before Brittany could say anything else, two men were dragging her back into the elevator as she begged them to let her go. She was so close to hugging her mom, she couldn't be take away from her now. She had to get her off the Naughty List, this was absolutely urgent business but those guys were really strong and she couldn't get herself away from them.

"I'll see you soon!" She cheered once they let her go.

"Oh no you won't, you won't be back here any time soon!" One of them shouted.

"Yeah, go back to Gimbal's where you belong."

Brittany had no idea what Gimbal's was, but as luck would have it, she saw a big sign announcing that it was a giant store on the next street. Everything inside was decorated, not quite like the North Pole, but enough for it to feel a little bit like Christmastime and Brittany walked inside, filled with wonder. She had just gotten to the second floor when someone grabbed her by the shoulder and she spun her head around.

"Hey elf, get back to work!" He shouted.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the North Pole, where do you think?"

"This isn't the North Pole! If this is the North Pole, where are the reindeer?"

"Are you trying to be cute with me, kid?" The man snapped. "Get back to work, Santa is coming tomorrow!"

"Santa! Oh my God! Santa is coming!" Brittany jumped up and down and clapped her hands and then, just when she was starting to get excited, she turned her head and stopped dead in her tracks.

There, decorating the Christmas tree was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen—not that she had seen many human women, but still. Brittany felt her heart go into her throat and her palms go sweaty as she stared at the woman dressed like an elf hanging silver ornaments from the tree. She wanted to go talk to her, to tell her that she was beautiful, but she knew that was probably a bad idea.

"Hey you." The woman snapped. "What are you staring it?

"It's just…" Brittany stammered. "I've never met another human who shares my affinity for elf culture."

"Are you messing with me? Who told you to mess with me? Was it Schuester?"

"No, no one told me to. I'm being serious. It's Christmas, the best time of the year!"

"Yeah…psht…okay."

"What do you mean?"

"We're all just trying to get by, okay?"

"Get by? How could we just be getting by when Santa is coming? We have so much to do! And guess what? We should sing! The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."

"I don't sing."

"Oh come on, singing is easy. It's just look talking only louder and longer and you move your voice up and down."

"I know how to sing, I just don't."

"Why not? Singing is my favorite!"

"Okay, weirdo."

"I'm actually Brittany. Brittany the Elf."

"Okay." The woman rolled her eyes a little but then a hint of a smile crossed her face. "I'm Santana."


	2. Chapter 2

After learning that Santa was actually going to come to this place, Brittany spent the entire night getting everything ready. She couldn't let Santa walk into some place that was so _un-_Christmasy, even with the tree that Santana had decorated. Once she made everything perfect, she fell asleep right in the middle of Christmas Land and got her full forty-five minutes before she heard something coming from the back of the store. Brittany rolled over, wiping glitter from her cheeks and she crept back to where the noise was coming from. Someone was _singing _and Brittany couldn't help but join in, opening the door and softly singing the contrasting lines.

"I'll hold your hands they're just like ice." Brittany sang, being answered by _my mother will start to worry._

The sound of the voice of whoever was singing was absolutely beautiful and Brittany sat up on the counter in the steamy locker room and listened and sang and just wished it would never end. Somehow, the sound of that voice made her feel more Christmasy than she ever had and though she didn't want to startle the woman singing into stopping, she was dying to know who it was. Her heart swelled and her voice got louder as the song went on.

"Oh but it's cold outside!" She wailed, her voice echoing off the walls.

The sound of a shower curtain being ripped open broke Brittany from her reverie and there was Santana, whipping her head around to see Brittany sitting on the counter. She looked _pissed _and Brittany was shocked that she could look so angry after singing so beautifully. It shouldn't have surprised her that the most beautiful woman she had ever seen had the most beautiful voice she had ever heard, but still, it did, and she looked down sheepishly.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I was just listening to you sing." Brittany shrugged. "I knew you could sing."

"I told you I could sing, I just don't."

"Well it sounded like you were."

"Do you know how creepy it is to sit in the locker room and listen to someone take a shower? Why are you in here?" Santana snapped.

"I told you, I was listening to you sing. It was…really beautiful."

"Tell anyone about this and I'll kill you."

"You can't kill me, it's Christmas."

"What _is _it with you and Christmas?"

"I love Christmas! Don't you love Christmas?" Brittany hopped off the counter as Santana closed the shower curtain and went back behind it.

"What's there to love? I have no family to go home to, no girlfriend, I work in fucking Gimbal's where I deal with snot nosed little kids all day. Only kids love Christmas, then, when you grow up and realize there's no Santa, it all kind of sucks."

"No Santa?" Brittany's eyes widened in alarm. "What are you talking about? Of course there's a Santa. He's coming today!"

"Right. The unwashed dude who Schuester hires every year even though I told him I get major creep vibes from him. That's Santa."

"You'll see when he gets here, Santa never lets anyone down."

"You're joking, right?" Santana chuffed and reappeared from behind the curtain fully dressed in her elf costume. "What are you, eight?"

"Papa Elf warned me this might happen down here." Brittany looked off into the distance. "So you really don't believe in Santa?"

"No, I don't."

"Give me a chance to prove that he's real."

"I don't even know you."

"Then you have nothing to lose." Brittany grinned.

Mr. Schuester started banging on the locker room door before anything else could happen in their conversation and Brittany remembered her excitement about Santa coming. That's all she needed to prove to Santana that he really was real—seriously though, how could she hear that he was coming and not think that he was real anyway? She rushed out of the locker room and ran into her newly fabricated meeting area and there were tons of children lined up. She grinned wide, knowing that all of them believed that Santa was real, and she got to the very front, excited to show Santa that she had found her way to New York.

When Santa came out, she started screaming at the top of her lungs, so excited for her a piece of her home that she couldn't even contain herself. Then, she really looked at him. He was too skinny. His beard wasn't real. His eyes didn't sparkle. That absolutely was _not _Santa and she felt like crying. She was torn over what to do. If she made a scene, she would be telling all of the kids around her that _this _Santa wasn't real and she would be proving Santana's point. She couldn't do that, so she bit her lip and held back tears. After only a minute of it, she couldn't hold it in anymore and she broke into a run.

"Elf! Get back here!" Schuester screamed, but Brittany kept running, trying to get away from this _imposter _as quickly as possible.

Brittany ran out of the store and into the street, narrowly missing being hit by one of those yellow cabs. She got back to the Empire State Building and she charged through the security guards who had thrown her out the day before. She was just about to the elevator when she got caught up by them again and she thrashed and screamed in their arms.

"I'm just here to see my mother!"

"There's a no trespassing order against you. Do you want to spend the night in jail?"

"Let me go! Let me go!" Brittany thought of what she used to do when she was a kid and Papa Elf would hold her back from doing something and then, without any forethought, she bit one of the guards on the hand.

"That's it!" He roared. "You're going downtown."

Brittany had never been in jail before. She didn't even think there was such thing as jail in the North Pole, so she was shocked when a police officer came, loaded her in the back of an SUV and tossed her into a cell with a dozen other women. One of them immediately started making fun of her clothes and Brittany pulled her dress down over her knees, crying softly into her sleeve. They told her that she could have one phone call and for a second, she wished that she knew Santana's last name because maybe she would help her out, but then she realized that there _was _one person she could call, her mother.

"Mom!" Brittany cried out when Whitney walked into the police station. "I knew you would come! They told me I had one phone call and I knew right away that I would call my mom and you came, you really came!"

"Let's go." Whitney spit, pushing Brittany out ahead of her. "You claim that you're my daughter, we're going to get to the bottom of this."

"Oooh, are you going to ask Santa? Don't go to the one at Gimbal's, he's an imposter."

"Look, I don't know what's wrong with you, kid. Are you crazy? You think you're dressed like an elf, you think I'm going to talk to Santa. How am I supposed to believe anything you're saying?"

"Because you're Whitney Pierce, you gave me up for adoption when you were sixteen, Then I was at the New York City Children's Home and on Christmas Eve, I climbed into Santa's bag and was raised by Papa Elf in the North Pole. All I wanted since I found out I wasn't an elf was to meet you, and I got to meet you! Now I want to make hot chocolate with you and go ice skating and make snow angels, and—"

"Who told you I gave a baby up when I was sixteen?"

"Santa!"

"Cut the crap." Whitney rolled her eyes. "Tell me who's telling you all of this."

"I already told you, you're just not listening."

Brittany followed Whitney until they were in some kind of waiting room in an office. She kicked her legs beneath her while she sat in the chair and then after a really long time, the lady behind the desk led them into a room with a paper table. When Brittany sat down, it crunched beneath her and she giggled.

"Why's there paper on this table?"

"So it's sanitary for the other patients."

"Patience? Papa Elf always said I had none of that."

"Mrs. Pierce, Miss…" The doctor came in with something shiny around his neck and Brittany was immediately intrigued by it.

"Brittany, Brittany the Elf. Adopted daughter of Papa Elf from the North Pole and real daughter of Whitney Pierce, publisher at the Empire State Building."

"We'll see about that." Whitney chuffed. "Doc, just do the test."

"Can I play with your necklace?"

"No." The doctor shook his head. "We're just going to do a quick finger prick."

"Oooh, what's that?" Brittany asked, but then immediately regretted that when he stabbed a needle in her finger and she started to bleed. "Ow! Ow! Why did you do that?"

"Give me twenty minutes, we'll have an answer for you."

"But I already know the answer, Santa told me."

Whitney stayed in the room with the doctor while Brittany went out into the waiting room clutching her finger. She could feel her heartbeat in it and it was not exactly a pleasant sensation. To distract herself from the hurt, she thought of gum drops and sugar plums and ice skating with her mom and…Santana. Santana was really so pretty that it almost hurt Brittany's eyes. Even though her singular mission in New York City had been to get her mom off the Naughty List, she realized that now she had two. She had to get her mom off the Naughty List _and _she had to make Santana believe in Santa. It seemed like with Christmas only six days away, that was a lot, but she was totally determined and she know that if she believed and wished hard enough, she could make it happen.

"Let's go." Whitney came out of the office and grabbed Brittany by the back of her dress. "I'll get to the bottom of who told you where to find me, but you're not lying about the fact that I'm your mother."

"See! Mommy! I told you! Oh, now can we go ice skating? Please? Please?"

"We're not going ice skating. Now I have to tell my husband that the daughter he doesn't know I gave up just came out of the wood work and needs some serious mental help. The doctor said you're regressing and if I bring you into my family, it'll set you right again."

"I'm already right. I was right about you being my mother, wasn't I?"

All the way back to Whitney's apartment, Brittany chattered away while her mother gave her monosyllabic responses. Brittany was just so excited that she was one step closer to getting Whitney off the Naughty List that she couldn't come down. When Whitney opened the door, Brittany was ecstatic to see a Christmas tree in the apartment and even more ecstatic to see the little girl sitting on the couch beside it playing a video game.

"Not a word about how you are until I finish this conversation." Whitney hissed in her ear and Brittany plopped down beside who she presumed to be her sister.

"Hi! I'm Brittany, Brittany the Elf."

"Rightttt…." The girl rolled her eyes, looking a lot like Whitney. "I'm Deidre and what are you even doing here?"

"I'm not allowed to tell you until M—Whitney says it's okay."

Deidre went back to playing her video game and Brittany counted all the twinkling lights on the tree. There were so many that it made her a little dizzy but she counted as quickly as she could until she realized that Whitney and whoever was in the kitchen were talking about her and she wanted to pay attention to that.

"Wonderful? Harry, you think it's wonderful that I have a kid that just came out of nowhere and thinks she's an elf?"

"Human raised by elves." Brittany corrected to no one in particular and Deidre gives her a side eye.

"You know I always wanted a big family. Let's just give her a place to stay for a while, make her part of the family. I'm sure she'll go back to normal after she gets some love. Now c'mon, let me meet her."

Harry came into the room with Whitney and Brittany was surprised that he was in worn jeans and a flannel shirt, compared to Whitney's fancy shoes and buttoned up blouse. Brittany gave him in the biggest grin and he smiled back at her, eyes warm and inviting like Papa Elf's.

"Well Deidre, I see you met your sister." Harry laughed, cupping Deidre's shoulder.

"Whatever." Deidre rolled her eyes again. "I'm going to my room."

Brittany was so excited that Harry was so nice to her that after he made up the bed on the couch for her and everyone else went to sleep, Brittany wanted to do something really nice for him. It was hard to find everything she needed, but Brittany went a little nuts decorating the entire house from top to bottom, even more decorated than it already was, and then started it in the kitchen, making her famous spaghetti with maple syrup and M&Ms so he would have something for breakfast.

"Good morning Harry!" Brittany called out when he got in the kitchen. "I have to go to work because Mr. Schuester thinks I work at Gimbal's now, but I wanted to make sure you had a nice sugary breakfast!"

"Thank you for…that." Harry laughed, accepting the plate from Brittany as Whitney walked into the kitchen.

"Don't worry, Mom, I made you some to take to work!"

"I'm…good." Whitney grabbed a cup of coffee and made her way out the door before Brittany could say anything else.

"What's up with her?"

"She just needs some time to adjust." Harry promised. "She has a lot on her plate at work right now and finding out she has a daughter who was looking for her caught her by surprise. But she's good at heart, I promise."

"Good enough to get off the Naughty List?"

"That's one way to put it."


	3. Chapter 3

As bummed as Brittany was that that Santa at Gimbal's wasn't real, she couldn't deny that she was still excited to go to work so she could see Santana. Maybe Santana thought she was weird, but she still was going to keep her promise to prove to her that Santa was real. Her idea had just…become a little more complicated.

When she got to work, Santana was at the fake Santa's side. She was lifting a baby into his arms and although Brittany was nervous about these people letting some _stranger _hold their babies, she couldn't help but be charmed by Santana holding that baby. She had these really cute dimples and her face shone as she looked down into the tiny face and Brittany wanted to pitch her cheeks. It was almost too much for her to handle and she just wished she had any idea how to talk to girls. All of the elves kind of ignored her when she was in the North Pole so she had no experience flirting and she figured what she needed to do was flirt.

"Brittany!" Schuester yelled. "You're late!"

"In the North Pole, late is early and early is too early!"

"Cut the…C-R-A-P and help with crowd control, Santana can't handle it by herself."

"Yes, I can." Santana rolled her eyes. "I'm not an idiot."

"It's okay, Santana. I'm here. You can do the babies since you're so cute with them and I'll take care of the big kids."

"Wait, what?" Santana did a double take and Brittany blushed.

"Nothing, never mind…I'll just…help."

The shift was much crazier than Brittany thought. The kids were screaming and crying and she thought that was absolutely not what was supposed to happen around Santa Claus. Maybe, Brittany suspected, the kids knew that this guy was a total fake and if they knew he was a fake, Santana absolutely _had _to know and this was totally going against her plan. In order to make everything work—well, except for getting her mom on the nice list, that was a totally different plan—Brittany would have to call the real Santa and get him to come. But he didn't answer his cell phone in December, that was the rule, so, her plan was stalled a little.

After Brittany's shift was over, it was just at the exact time that she knew Deidre was getting out of school. Brittany wanted to spend time with her sister, have what she always wanted, so she sprinted downtown and found a spot on the bench outside of the school. When she saw Deidre walking out, she jumped up and shouted her name, clapping excitedly.

"Deidre! Deidre! It's me, Brittany!"

"What the hell, Brittany?" Deidre rolled her eyes and tried to blend in with her friends but Brittany just followed close behind, waiting until they were in the middle of the park.

Suddenly, Deidre was standing alone and the park got oddly quiet. Brittany looked around, feeling like something was amiss—she did get some kind of elf sense, just from living with Papa Elf for so many years. Deidre whipped her head around and looked at Brittany.

"Run!" She screamed, taking off, just as snowballs started to fly. Brittany chased after her, following her as she ducked behind a rock.

"I knew they were going to do this." Deidre huffed, out of breath.

"Your friends?"

"They suck, okay?"

"Just start making snowballs as fast as you can!"

Before Deidre could even make one snowball, Brittany had a stack of them and was whipping them at the kids who were attacking them. Deidre's eyes widened and she looked at Brittany, hurling the one snowball in her hand at the girl who was running away from Brittany's torrent of snow. The ball whacked the girl in the back of the head and though Brittany had only known Deidre for a day, she knew that her laughing was totally not something she did normally.

"That was awesome! How did you even do that?"

"We have snowball fights all the time in the North Pole. I'm actually the slowest one!"

"So you're serious about this North Pole stuff, huh? Mom is pretty pissed about it."

"She seems like everything makes her mad." Brittany furrowed her brow.

"Yeah, well, don't worry about it, she's not around much." Deidre shrugged. "It's no big deal."

"If I've learned anything in my life, I'd say that when you have to say it's no big deal, it probably is."

"I have my dad, he's super cool, so it's whatever."

"What does she even do? She has that big fancy office and stuff."

"She's the president of a kids' book publishing company. Which is shocking because she hates kids."

"How can she hate kids?" Brittany furrowed her brow. "She has kids."

"Yeah well, neither of us were exactly planned. I mean, my dad wanted to have me, but…"

"How do you know that?"

"Because she told me. I'm telling you, she's not nice."

"Is that why she's on the Naughty List?"

"She's probably on the Naughty List because she screws everyone over that she comes in contact with. Last week, she sent out a bunch of books missing pages because she didn't want to spend the money to fix them. She said that kids wouldn't care. And she, like, openly talks about this at dinner like my dad is going to sympathize with her. I don't even know why he's still married to her to be honest, I just wish he'd take me and move away."

"Sometimes people on the Naughty List don't have a bad heart. I think she just needs some help."

"Look, Brittany, I know you think you're magical or whatever, but I think she's beyond help."

"Just give me—oh my God! Oh my God!"

"What?" Deirdre cocked her head to the side as Brittany started jumping up and down.

"It's her!"

"Who?"

"The most beautiful girl in the entire world." Brittany subtly pointed toward Santana, who was all bundled up in her winter clothes and walking directly toward them. "Her name is Santana and she's beautiful and smart and has an amazing singing voice and I promised her I'd convince her that Santa is real."

"Why would you promise that?"

"Because he is."

"Listen, that's not how you're gonna get a girl to like you. You need to go up to her and ask her on a date. Like, see if she wants to get food. Not candy, real food. I have like…fifty bucks that you can borrow, just see if she'll go out with you."

"How do I—Santana! Santana! Hi!" Brittany got overexcited as Santana approached and Deidre elbowed her in the side to try to calm her down.

"Jeeze, be cool for like two seconds."

"Brittany." Santana ran her hand through her hair. "You're still dressed from work."

"Oh…yeah, this is like the only thing I own. Um. I was wondering if you wanted to maybe..have food with me?"

"Have food with you?"

"Yeah." Deidre cut in. "She wants to take you out, like on a date."

"Deidre!"

"What? You do."

"Oh…yeah, that could be cool." Santana smiled and Brittany felt like the whole park lit up with her beauty. It was kind of cheesy, but Brittany was head over heels, even after knowing Santana for only two days. "Everything is kind of crazy with work and Christmas, but I could maybe do tonight?"

"Tonight?"

"Is that not good?"

"It's good." Deidre answered for Brittany. "She'll meet you and at Le Bernadin at seven."

After seeing Santana in the park and asking her out on a date—very much with Deidre's help—Brittany started to freak out. She didn't know the first thing about dates and after Santana made the comment about her still being in her elf clothes, Brittany felt like she had to figure out a way to change. Luckily, Deidre was a miracle worker. After telling her that she was absolutely going to charge the dinner to their mother's account at the restaurant—since she had apparently chosen a restaurant way outside of the fifty dollar budget—the two of them raided Whitney's closet and got Brittany into a gorgeous green dress that still made her feel elf enough, but also looked classy as heck for dinner with Santana.

Brittany was a total nervous wreck as Deidre saw her out the door and she totally forgot that she was supposed to be focusing on the Naughty List scenario with her mother. But she was so psyched to be having dinner with Santana that she felt like she had eaten a thousand gumdrops and couldn't stop the sugar rush in her head. When she got to the restaurant, Santana was sitting at the bar in a red dress and Brittany couldn't help but think that they went together like two perfect Christmas colors.

"You're early." Brittany walked you behind Santana and seriously wanted to touch her shiny hair. "Now I feel late."

"You're fine." Santana laughed. "Here, have a drink with me."

"Okay." Brittany grinned and looked at the bartender. "One chocolate milk with a crazy straw please."

"Miss, we don't have 'crazy straws' here. And we don't have chocolate milk either."

"Bummer. Um…I'll have what she's Gavin

"Bummer. Um…I'll have what she's having. What are you having?"

"A peppermint martini, do you want to try it first?" Santana offered,

"That's okay, I love anything peppermint! Like candy canes and peppermint candy and peppermint hot chocolate and peppermint marshmallows…"

"You're a little strange, but I think it's cute."

"I think you're really cute. I don't even know if I'm supposed to say that, but since you said it first…this is like, my first date ever, so…"

"This is your first date ever?" Santana looked surprised and Brittany nodded as the bartender placed the martini down in front of her.

"Yeah, I'm not going to talk about the North Pole because it makes people act weird, but…"

"Look, when I first met you, I thought you were kind of crazy, but I don't know why I'm even thinking this. You sound like you're telling the truth."

"Oh, I am." Brittany lifted her martini and downed the whole thing at once. "Wowza! That tastes like shoe polish!"

"You've tasted shoe polish before?"

"No, but you know what I mean, it tastes like it smells. You drink this for fun?"

"I usually drink to get drunk…which I think you'll be well on the way to in about five minutes" Santana giggled, making Brittany turn bright red. "Let's get you to a table so we can get some food in you."

Brittany absolutely felt that martini go to her head as she followed Santana to the table and she was really, really glad that the waiter put down a basket of bread. She took a piece, buttered it and then looked around to see if there was any sugar. Since there wasn't, she took a big bite without it and immediately made a face.

"What?"

"This could really use some sugar."

"It's bread." Santana laughed. "It's full of complex carbs that turn into sugar when you digest it."

"Huh. Weird. So, you know all kinds of stuff about me, tell me about you."

"Well, I was born and raised in Lima, Ohio. I moved to New York to be an actress, but so far that's not going great. I'm working at Gimbal's basically to pay the bills. I guess acting as an elf is a decent way to flex my skills."

"For what it's worth, you play a convincing elf. You're just..a little tall."

"That's the first time in my life anyone has ever called me tall." Santana shook her head with a chuckle. "If I'm tall for an elf, you must me a giant."

"Oh, I am: I always got to change the batteries in the smoke detectors." Brittany bragged a little. "Have you made any movies?"

"One. I played Penelope Cruz's butt."

"You played her butt?"

"Listen, I'm not proud of it, but she insists on a butt double, my rent was due and…I did it."

"Well, for what it's worth, I think you have a much better butt than Penelope Cruz."

"Do you have movies in the North Pole?" Santana raised an eyebrow.

"Of course we do, how do you think we keep up on human culture? There are no humans in the North Pole…well, except for me."

"How did you even end up there?"

"My mom put me up for adoption, I ended up in Santa's bag, Papa Elf raised me, that's about it. Does that make you believe in Santa?"

"Brittany, to be honest, I'd need a real Christmas miracle to believe in Santa."

It surprised Brittany that dinner with Santana went so well. Even when they ate snails, Brittany didn't barf. After they were finished and Brittany drank another shoe polish martini that made her super giggly, she listened to Deidre's advice and walked Santana home. When they got outside of her apartment, Brittany was shocked that it was dirty and dingy and it looked like the neighborhood was super unsafe.

"Don't judge, this is the only place I can afford to live in Manhattan. It's like the size of a postage stamp inside."

"Hey, I grew up in a house where I could barely fit in the bathroom." Brittany confesses.

"You know, I really like you a lot."

"Really? Because I like you too, and Deidre said if it went well, I could kiss you."

"As weird as it is that you're taking dating advice from a fifteen year old, I'd really like that a lot."

As Brittany leaned in to kiss Santana, she had to keep her squeal inside of her body. Feeling Santana's lips on her own was better than Christmas cookies and tinsel and reindeer combined and she decided that she wanted to be kissing her forever. Santana seemed in no rush to pull away either so they just kept kissing and kissing until a police siren broke them apart and Santana pulled back with a dreamy smile on her face.

"Well, goodnight Brittany."

"Goodnight Santana."


	4. Chapter 4

After her date with Santana, Brittany felt like she had a belly full of gumdrops. The whole night, she kept wondering what the next day was going to be like at work, if Santana was going to be kind of snarky like she usually was, or if she was going to be sweet like she was on their date. She was stressed about that and she also kept thinking about her mom and the Naughty List and what Deidre had said about cheating kids out of the pages in their books. Everything felt a little overwhelming and Brittany wished she had Papa Elf to turn to. He was always so good at helping make sense of things but she knew that he was probably working eighteen hours a day in order to help Santa get ready for Christmas so she couldn't even call him.

Brittany didn't have to be at work until the afternoon the next day, so after she walked with Deidre to school, she decided to go to her mom's job and see for herself what was going on. She figured that her mom probably told those scary guards that she was allowed there, since she was letting her sleep in her house so she didn't feel afraid when she got to the building. She grinned at the guards as she walked right past and went all the way up to the floor where her mom worked.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me, Corcoran." Whitney yelped into the phone on the desk and Brittany winced at the profanity. "You want me to redo these books and get them out three days before Christmas? Do you even know what the lead time looks like on those?"

"The board of directors is livid with you, Pierce. If you want to keep your position, you'll do it and you'll be there at the meeting on Christmas Eve." The woman in the phone told her.

"Christmas Eve?"

"It's the only time Martinez can fly in from Spain. You really expect me to believe that you have big Christmas plans?"

"No, I don't. I'll be there."

"You're going to work on Christmas Eve?" Brittany's eyes widened as Whitney hung up the phone. "But how are we going to go ice skating and make gingerbread houses and wait for Santa?"

"You can do it with Harry and Deidre, I don't _do _Christmas."

"But Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year! You're supposed to spend it with your family! How are you doing to do that to Deidre and to me? This is our first Christmas together!"

"Are you here for a reason?"

"I'm here because we have an emergency to talk about."

"An emergency?"

"You're on Santa's Naughty List and we need to do something about that. You can't be mean to kids."

"How am I mean to kids?" Whitney raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't put all the pages in your book and…Deidre thinks you don't love her and you just spend all of your time at work."

"Brittany, the doctor said I'm supposed to be gentle with you, but…Santa is not real."

"Everyone down here keeps saying that, I don't know why you all think that. Of course he's real! I'll tell you all about his workshop and—"

"I don't have time for that. Why are you here?"

"I just came to see you…"

"Well you saw me. I have work to do."

Crestfallen, Brittany left Whitney's office and figured she'd get to work a little early. Just in case the real Santa came, she felt like she had to much to do. When she got there, Santana was redecorating the tree and Brittany grinned at her, glad she was met by a smile in return. She wanted to talk to her, but Schuester grabbed her by the arm and threw her in the pit with all of the kids. Brittany loved working with them, making them laugh and she had a three year old girl giggling within seconds.

The whole day, the department store was swamped and Brittany barely caught more than a glimpse of Santana. When the store closed, Brittany went into the locker room and there was Santana standing in her bra. Brittany's throat went dry and she swallowed hard, trying to moisten it. Santana smiled at her and she felt her heart melt.

"Hey." Santana pulled her shirt over her head. "I barely got to see you today."

"Yeah, it was busy. Everyone is just all amped up about this fake Santa."

"That's Christmas. So, um, I got an audition."

"You did? That's awesome!"

"Yeah, it's for this movie they're filming in the Village, so I wouldn't even have to leave New York."

"When is it?" Brittany's eyes lit up, thinking she would definitely put in a good word with Santa so Santa would get it.

"It's on Christmas Eve."

"What's up with everyone working on Christmas Eve?"

"Brittany." Santana sighed. "It's just another day."

"It's the most magical day of the year! When I was in the North Pole, all of our work would stop as soon as Santa's sleigh was loaded and we'd have the biggest party in the world."

"It's at ten o'clock in the morning. I'm mostly worried about Schu killing me because I can't come in until one. I'm not doing anything Christmas Eve anyway, it's not a big deal."

"You could spend it with me and Ken and Deidre if you wanted to. My mom is working so…"

"You want me to meet your family?" Santana raised her eyebrow.

"I mean, if you wanted to. No one should be alone on Christmas."

"My parents aren't exactly…accepting of my life, so I avoid them like the plague."

"What do you mean?"

"The gay thing, Britt."

"Why wouldn't they accept that? It's who you are."

"I think you have a lot to learn, Brittany, but I kind of want to let you keep your innocence."

"Do you want to maybe, um, get some hot chocolate?"

"A date two nights in a row?"

"I..um…" Brittany struggled, wishing Deidre was around to help her out.

"I'm just teasing you, Britt. I'd love to get some hot chocolate with you."

They walked out of the store and then, much to Brittany's surprise, Santana took Brittany's hands. Her hands were so small and soft and Brittany decided she wanted to hold them forever. Maybe she was thinking about things way too soon, but sometimes when you know, you know. Santana was Brittany's opposite in every way. She could be surly, she didn't believe in Santa Claus, but Brittany thought that maybe there was a reason she ended up in New York besides getting her mom off the Naughty List.

"You're so thinky." Santana laughed.

"I just like being with you."

"You know, when you came in the other day, I thought you were kind of weird, but it turns out, I really like being around you. I don't believe in magic, but there's something kind of magical about you."

"They thought the opposite in the North Pole. Everyone else was pretty magical and I was just me."

"Is that really where your from?"

"Well, I guess I'm really from New York, but I promise, I'm not lying."

"I don't think you are, as crazy as that sounds."

"So do you believe in Santa yet?"

"I told you, Britt, it would take a real miracle for me to believe in him."

"I'm going to make sure he makes that miracle happen, I promise."

They get to the coffee shop on the corner and Santana insists on buying her coffee and Brittany's hot chocolate—extra marshmallows, extra whipped cream, extra sprinkles—and they sat down in a corner by the window where they could see all of the Christmas lights outside. Brittany felt so warm and happy and she realized that she never wanted the night to end.

"I realized I never found out. Where are you from?" Brittany asked.

"I'm from some bumblefuck town in Ohio, I got out as soon as I possibly could and have never gone back."

"Didn't you have any friends there?"

"My friend Mercedes moved here with me, she was the only one that really mattered there. She already made it big with her music so she doesn't have to share a shitty apartment with me anymore. I just want to get to that point."

"I bet you're really talented. I wish I could see you act."

"You see me act at work. Do you think I'm really that happy to be around all those kids?"

"You don't like kids?" Brittany was surprised.

"It's not that I don't like kids, it's just that I'd rather not be around strange kids. They're always sick and they smell:"

"But you look so cute with the babies. I…never mind."

"I've gotta say, you're pretty cute with the kids. It's like you get them."

"I just like them, I guess." Brittany shrugged. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Ask away."

"I'm just like, trying to figure out what to do with my mom. I obviously don't know her very well, but I already really love her even though she's pretty mean. I'm just trying to make her better so she can get off the Naughty List, but she does all this stuff like send out all these books to kids without pages and spends so much time at work that my sister says she wants her dad to run away with her. I don't know anything about people. How would I change her?"

"I don't think people change."

"Really?"

"I know that's not the answer you want to hear." Santana covered her face with her hands like she was thinking hard. "Let me give you a better one. Sometimes I think people just need to find something that will change their heart. I wasn't able to find that for my parents, but maybe you can find it for your mom."

"I tried singing Christmas songs really loud last night. I mean, I always thought that the best way to spread Christmas cheer was singing loud for all to hear."

"I don't think Christmas songs are going to change your mom. I think she just needs something real to happen that makes her realize what she's missing out on."

"Hmm. I guess I have to think about what that could be. I bet Deidre could help me."

"Your sister's pretty smart." Santana laughed. "After all, she's the one that got us to go out on a date."

"It's really weird that I've only known you for a few days. I feel like I can talk to you about anything."

"Yeah, it is weird. I've never had this good of a first and second date."

"Are you in a rush to go home?" Brittany asked hopefully.

"You've seen where I live, I'm never in a rush to get there."

"Then let's go ice skating."

Brittany was really surprised when Santana agreed to go with her and was even more surprised when she suggested they take the subway. When they got underground, Brittany was amazed by the trains whirring by. She couldn't help but jump up and down and the giggles that came from Santana when she did that were pretty amazing.

They finally got on a train and Brittany grasped the bar for dear life, her whole body feeling like it was falling with the train as it lurched forward. Santana was clearly a pro, standing perfectly still with only one hand on the bar and the other on the small of Brittany's back. The announcer kept saying the names of stops and by the time they got off the train, Brittany was mimicking they "stand clear of the closing doors" announcement and laughing.

In the middle of Central Park, Santana led them go a skating rink, even though Brittany was very skeptical as they passed there more people she thought was Santa but were actually imposters. In the North Pole, no one would ever dream of dressing up like Santa, but in New York, it seemed like there was someone on every street corner who did. At the rink, they changed into their skates and Santana held out her hand for Brittany to take while skating, something Brittany always dreamed about when she saw the elves skate like that back home.

"I'm not exactly a professional ice skater." Santana told Brittany as an explanation for why she wobbled on the feet and held fast to Brittany's hand.

"That's okay, in the North Pole, I wasn't very good either. I can only do a double axle and like…six figure eights in a row."

"Wait, what? You can really do that. Help me to the side so I don't fall on my ass while you show me."

With a grin, Brittany escorted Santana as then skated off to the middle of the rink. Desperately wanting to impress Santana, she did every trick she could possibly think of and when she turned to see Santana's reaction, she was glad that she was greeted with smiles and claps. She skated back over to her and pressed kisses on both of Santana's red cheeks, even if she wasn't sure that wasn't coming on too strong.

"That was amazing!" Santana tried to move toward Brittany, but then collapsed into the ice with her shaky legs. Brittany was concerned that she was going to be upset, but Santana just laughed dog laughed until Brittany put her back in her feet. "I don't know if I've ever laughed this much."

"I do have a lot of fun with you. But we probably should get you off this ice before you get really hurt."

"Yeah, the last thing I need is to show up up my audition with a huge cut across my face."

"It might make you look cool."

"I'm cool enough without a big scar." Santana poked Brittany in the side.

"Can I walk you home again?"

"I would love that."


	5. Chapter 5

On Christmas Eve, Brittany woke up incredibly excited. She knew that of the days she's spent in New York, that was the one where she was most likely to see Santa. As much as she was really enjoying things in New York—especially Santana, that was a really big deal—she was a little homesick for Papa Elf and she knew that seeing the big man would help to assuage those feelings. Then, she remembered that Santana had her audition and she still hadn't been able to get in touch with Santa to tell him that it was Santana's Christmas wish to get a real part in something and be able to escape from her sad little apartment and Brittany got nervous. She also still hadn't gotten her mom off the Naughty List, so her Christmas plans weren't exactly looking great.

Brittany only had to work in the morning, so she figured that still bought her some time in the afternoon to figure out how she could accomplish the two big things she needed to accomplish by nightfall. The thing that sucked about working in the morning though is that Santana wouldn't be there and Brittany pretty much wanted to see her every waking moment she had. But it would be fine, maybe she could invite her to do things with Harry and Deidre later, if she didn't get too nervous or if Santana wasn't a big star by then. The latter was possible, since Santa _did _know what everyone wanted for Christmas and Brittany was _pretty _sure that getting the part topped Santana's list.

The morning was hectic with all the kids coming in to see the imposter Santa and Brittany had sort of reached a tentative détente with him. She was just about to leave when Santana came in the door all frazzled and Brittany thought that might be a bad sign about the audition. Brittany looked up, as if she could channel Santa, and then went over to Santana before she got into the locker room.

"Are you okay?" Brittany asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just fucking snowing and it made getting here a bitch."

"Snow on Christmas Eve? That's amazing! It'll make it so much easier for the reindeer."

"Definitely didn't make it easy on me…" Santana grumbled.

"How was the audition?"

"I think it was good. I always think it's good though, and they never call."

"But that's your Christmas wish, right?"

"I…no, it's not."

"What?" Brittany was taken by surprise. "Then what is?"

"I'm sorry, Brittany, but I just don't want to talk about it because it's not going to come true anyway."

"You don't know that, Santa is really good at these things."

"If he's so good, then he'll know what I want. Listen, Schu is going to kill me if I'm late, but maybe I'll stop by your mom's apartment later?"

"Yeah!" Brittany yelped, then quieted her voice. "I mean, yeah, that would be great. Deidre said she just wants to watch Christmas movies and eat popcorn and candy, so we'll be there."

"Cool. I'll see you later then."

When Brittany walked out of work, she was even more nervous then she was before she saw Santana. Without knowing her Christmas wish, there was nothing she could do to make sure Santa fulfilled it and if he didn't, then Santana would never believe in him. Maybe, if she knew, she could try to get in touch with Papa Elf and have him pass the word along to Santa, but since she didn't, it was up to Santa who always needed a lot of help getting ready for Christmas.

Since Brittany had nothing else to do and she knew that Deidre was home while Harry finished shopping, Brittany went back to the apartment. Sprawled out on the couch was Deidre and Brittany figured that they should get out of the house while they waited for Harry to get home.

"I didn't want to get out of my pajamas today." Deidre grumbled.

"Come on, we'll just go to the park for a little while. I want to see that big tree with the lights again. They have them on even in the daytime!"

"Fine. But I need to take a shower so give me a half hour."

While Deidre got in the shower, Brittany plopped down on the couch and watched some terrifying Christmas movie about a boy who booby trapped his house to prevent burglars from stealing everything. Just as Brittany was getting really into it, she heard Deidre shriek from the bathroom and she jumped out of her seat to check on her.

"Deidre, are you okay?" Brittany asked and slowly, the door opened and Deidre popped her head out, blood running down from her head. "Oh my snowman!"

"Brittany. I think I really hurt my head."

"Okay. I've seen elves get hurt in the workshop, I'll make you some hit chocolate and then everything will be fine!"

"I can see my skull! I need to go to the hospital! I need to call my dad."

Holding her towel up with one hand and her very bloody head with the other, Deidre got to the coffee table where she had left her phone. Seeing that her situation involved both hands and she didn't have a third to pick up the phone with, Deidre yelped for Brittany to call her dad. Luckily, Brittany had made lots of those things in the workshop, so she knew exactly how to use it and scrolled through until she found the contact makes _Dad._

"_Hey buttercup." _Harry answered the phone.

"Hi Harry, it's Brittany. Deidre is bleeding like crazy and she thinks she needs to go to the hospital. I don't know what to do."

"_Okay. What you're going to do it go in the jar in the kitchen and take money out. Then you're going to go downstairs and get a taxi and tell them to take you to NYU Medical Center. I'm leaving Gimbal's now, I'll meet you there as soon as I can. Put Dee on the phone."_

"Deidre, it's for you."

While Deidre talked to Harry, Brittany scrambled to find her clothes. When Brittany came out with them, Deidre looked completely unsatisfied but without a complaint managed to get herself into the red velvet dress and patent leather shoes. Following Harry's instructions exactly, Brittany got Deidre to the hospital and when they got in, no one even looked at the grown woman in elf clothes and the teenager in a too small dress strangely.

"I'm here!" Harry ran into the emergency room waiting room. "Dee, honey, are you okay?"

"Is Mom coming?" Deidre deflected the question and Harry deflated.

"She…couldn't leave work."

"Of course."

It took a long time for the doctor to finally see Deidre but once she did, she got her head stitched up and they were on their way. Brittany was completely fascinated by the stitches but she didn't want to say anything because Deidre really seemed to be in pain. They got back to the house and Deidre changed out of her dress while Harry started making a ham and Brittany decided to go for a walk in the park to wallow in the fact that it was dark and she still hadn't figured out how to get Santana to believe in Santa or get her mom off the Naughty List. It was against the rules to feel like a failure at Christmas, but Brittany was totally there and she was bummed about it.

She was about halfway through the park when she heard sleigh bells overhead and looked up to see Santa careening toward the ground. She quickly leaped out of the way and Santa and all the reindeer landed just feet away from her with a thud.

"Santa!" Brittany shouted. "You're here! I need so much help. I can't figure out Santana's Christmas wish and my mom is still on the Naughty List and—"

"Brittany, we have bigger trees to trim." Santa shook his head. "The engine's gone out on the sleigh and if we don't fix it, there isn't going to be a Christmas."

"Santa, I've worked on your sleigh with Papa Elf so many times, I know I can do it!"

"Then let's get to it."

Brittany got underneath the sleigh and just as she really got in to working on it, she heard a familiar voice talking on her cell phone. The only difference was, the voice sounded much kinder than she remembered and Brittany immediately slid out from under the sleigh to see if her ears were deceiving her.

"Mom?" Brittany's eyes widened.

"Brittany, what are you—" Whitney started.

"I thought you had your meeting at work and you wouldn't be home for Christmas Eve."

"Time is ticking, Brittany." Santa interrupted but Brittany was so taken aback by seeing her mom that she couldn't even listen to Santa.

"Harry called and told me Deidre was upset that I wasn't at the hospital. I…told them all to shove it, I needed to get home to see my kid."

"But your job."

"I got fired from my job, but not before listening to you and making sure each kid got a new book with all of the pages. I haven't been fair to Deidre her whole life, although it looks like you did just fine without me."

"But you think I'm weird."

"I—is this—am I seeing things?"

"Santa, this is my mom, Mom, this is Santa."

"It's nice to meet you, Whitney. I've been watching you since you were a little girl. I hate to cut this short, but my sleigh isn't working and I need Brittany to fix it."

"I thought the reindeer pulled the sleigh." Whitney looked on in amazement.

"With all the presents the kids ask for these days? There's no way they could pull all they weight."

"I'm back to fixing it, Santa."

While Brittany got under the sleigh, Santa let Whitney sit in it and Brittany could almost feel her Christmas heart growing. As glad as she was that Whitney cared enough about Deidre to get fired from her job, Brittany half wished it was Santana sitting in Santa's sleigh so she had a reason to believe. But she couldn't worry about that. If Brittany couldn't replicate what Papa Elf had taught her then there would be so many disappointed children in the world who didn't have a Christmas morning.

"Brittany, we've got a problem." Santa called down as Brittany heard the clomping of horse feet. "The Central Park Rangers."

Brittany pulled herself out from under the sleigh just as Whitney was jumping out. Santa looked incredibly concerned and Brittany only needed about five more minutes to get the sleigh up and running. She knew who the Rangers were, they appeared on the Naughty List every year and Brittany was nervous to meet them face to face.

"Santa." Whitney offered. "Give me your coat."

"What?"

"Just give me your coat, I'll distract them."

Santa complied with Whitney and as she ran head on toward the Rangers, Brittany quickly got back under the sleigh. She knew she didn't have much time so she worked as fast as she could, pumping her fist as the engine started up.

"Okay Santa, lets go!"

Unbeknownst to Brittany, just as she jumped in the sleigh with Santa, a crowd had begun to form outside of the park. Deidre has dragged Harry out of the house, her head bandaged and the news had begun to report on a disturbance in Central Park.

"Santana!" Deidre called out, seeing Brittany's friend. "I think Brittany is in there!"

"What?" Santana whipped her head around, looking from Deidre to the entrance of the park.

"They're saying it's Santa in there! If he's there, she's with him. I can't find her!"

Just as Santana started to panic, a sleigh rose up from the ground and then, to the shock of everyone watching, it hit a statue above the arch and sparks rained down. The sleigh lost its height and everyone could hear the frantic whinnying of horses. Santana was at a total loss for what to do and she didn't think when she grabbed Deidre's fans, squeezing it tight as the sleigh bobbed up and down over the park.

"We need to do something!" Santana shouted, unable to believe her eyes. "What can we do?"

"They're not letting anyone in the park, there's nothing we can do." Deidre answered.

At just that moment, Whitney, clad in Santa's coat and holding his great book of names came running out of the park, hoping to divert the Rangers' attention that way. But when she turned around, the Rangers had turned the other way and she looked up, seeing the sleigh attempt to fly.

"Mom!" Deidre cried out, running toward her.

"Dee!" Whitney snatched her up in her arms, shocking Deidre because she was never used to that much affection.

"Is Brittany in there?"

"She is, and they're after her!"

"I'm going in." Santana asserted, pulling the laces on her boots.

"Who are you?" Whitney arched an eyebrow.

"I'm Santana, Brittany's…something."

"Listen, no one needs to go in. When I was in Santa's sleigh, I saw something. The sleigh can be powered by the belief in Santa. That's all we need to do, we need to get everyone to believe. It's the only way we can save Brittany."

"Whitney." Harry came over. "Are you saying…?"

"I'm saying that I believe what I see with my own eyes."

"But I don't—" Santana started.

"Santana Lopez." Deidre read from the book. "Wants her parents to stop hating her because she's a lesbian and talk to her again."

"Who told you that?" Santana snatched the book and her heart leapt when she saw it written there in old fashioned script.

"News lady!" Deidre called our, running toward the camera. "I need you to let me on TV!"

As Deidre began listing off Christmas wishes, in the sleigh, both Brittany and Santa were in a panic. They were going up and down sickeningly and Brittany couldn't figure out how they were still flying at all.

"The Claus-o-Meter." Santa told her, almost reading her mind. "Someone is doing something to make people believe in me, but they need to do more."

"Come on! Come on! Someone do something!" Brittany wished.

From the ground, Santana could see the sleigh wobbling up and down. She was still attempting to process the fact that the book Deidre had read knew her deepest, darkest, most intense secret, one that Mercedes didn't even know. But there was a more pressing issue at hand, the fact that Brittany could very well be hurt at any second. Her feelings for Brittany were new, but they were there and she would really have liked to see where things went before Brittany either fell of the sleigh and got severely injured, or if she took that sleigh back to where she came from and never looked back.

"The best way to spend Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." Santana mumbled to herself, remembering what Brittany had said on their last date, then took a breath and began to sing. "You better watch out, you better not cry—"

"What are you doing?" Deidre whipped her head around.

"Just trust me, sing. As loud as you can."

Before long, the singing from the ground became so loud that even Brittany and Santa could hear it. The Rangers were still below them but slowly, slowly, the sleigh began to climb higher and higher into the air. Before Brittany could think about anything else, New York City was fading into the distance. At the sight of the building that brought her to the city, she welled up with a painful feeling. In just a few dats, New York had begun to feel like him and perhaps her biggest pang came from thinking about Santana, who made her light up like a Christmas tree.

"Don't worry kid." Santa elbowed Brittany a little. "I'll get you back in the morning."


	6. Chapter 6

Though Brittany's first time leaving the North Pole was just a few days before, on Santa's sleigh, she got to see the entire world in one night. It was pretty amazing, watching him slide down each chimney and delivering toys at such a rapid speed and though she didn't get her full forty-five minutes of sleep, she was still wide awake by the time Santa landed his sleigh on top of Brittany's mom's apartment building and thanked her for all of her help. The sun was just coming up and Brittany glimpsed at it from the top of the building before she slipped inside and took the key Harry had given her to let herself into the apartment.

Everyone was still sound asleep when she got in and she grinned at the presents Santa had left beneath the tree and sprawled out. She thought of her mom, who she was pretty sure made her way off the Naughty List, and then she thought of Santana, whose Christmas wish she never figured out. All she could hope was that Santa maybe had it written down and got it to her without Brittany's help. With those thoughts in her head, Brittany fell asleep.

"Brittany, wake up." Deidre shook her, whispering. "Santa came."

"Did you think he wouldn't?" Brittany asked, her eyes popping open.

"Before last night, I wasn't so sure. But he's real, isn't he?"

"He's real. I'm sorry I wasn't here last night."

"It was fine, I figured you were with Santa, so you wouldn't make it home. Besides, I hung out with Mom for awhile, so that was really nice."

"I'm so glad she came home."

"Me too." Deidre smiled. "And she promised that wherever she gets a job, she'll still be busy, but she'll make time for me."

"She just needs something to happen to make her realize what she's missing out on." Brittany murmured, thinking of what Santana had said the other night at the coffee shop. "You being in the hospital I guess was a wake up call."

"I guess me getting stitches in the head was good for something. And maybe Santa has a little something to do with it."

"Did you tell anyone that's what you wanted?"

"I didn't." Deidre shook her head.

"Then there's still hope for Santana."

"Santana?"

"She said she'd need a real miracle to believe that Santa is real."

"Brittany, she's the one that got everyone to sing last night, to believe in Santa again. I think she believes in him too."

When Whitney and Harry came into the living room, they were all smiles and Brittany was left with her thoughts about Santana as they began handing out Christmas presents. Considering how strange things had been with her mom prior to the previous night's doings, Brittany didn't expect anything for herself, but she was surprised to find package after package with her name on it. Harry must have bought the gifts during his last minute Christmas shopping, but Brittany was almost giddy to find regular clothes. If she was going to stay in New York, she knew that she couldn't stay in her elf clothing forever so it was a welcome surprise.

"I invited Santana over for Christmas breakfast." Whitney told Brittany nonchalantly. "We got to talking last night and she said that she really liked being around you and had nowhere to go for Christmas, so I insisted she come here."

Brittany was ecstatic at the idea of Santana coming over and she was equally excited over the idea that her mother was moving so far off the Naughty List for next Christmas by making an effort to be kind to people. She could see it written all over Deirdre's face too and Brittany thought of all the years that Santa had said there was nothing like a child's face on Christmas morning.

After the gifts were all unwrapped, Brittany went into the bathroom to get dressed and when she cane out, even Whitney smiled seeing her in jeans and a sweater. It wasn't quite as comfortable as her elf dress, but she could get used to it, she thought. While Harry was in the kitchen getting breakfast ready, Brittany heard the door bell ring and she nearly jumped off the couch.

"Be cool, sis." Deidre laughed, seeing Brittany's excitement. "She likes you, don't screw it up."

"Hey." Brittany opened the door and decided her best course of action would be not to reveal that she knew Santana had tried to get everyone else to believe in Santa, but instead, let Santana tell her on her own terms. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas! Is it cool I'm here? Your mom invited me and I don't want it to be weird."

"It's totally not weird, I love that you're here. What's in that bottle? Is that more of that candy cane martini stuff?" Brittany screwed up her face. "Because if you're gonna drink it, I'll drink it, but just so you know it's totally gross."

"It's actually egg nog. I figured it would be more like the stuff you have at home and it's virgin, so Deidre can have some."

"Virgin?" Brittany blushed, knowing only one meaning of that word.

"Without alcohol." Santana smiles, then leaned in to whisper in Brittany's ear. "Would it be okay if I kissed you?"

"It would be totally more than okay."

Santana leaned in and Brittany remembered just how good it felt to kiss her. It felt like all of the excitement wrapped around Christmas in one single instant and when Santana wrapped her arms around Brittany's neck, it got even better.

"Hey, break it up!" Deidre called out. "Some other people want to say hi to Santana too."

"Hi, Dee." Santana pulled away from Brittany and sauntered into the living room. "How's the head?"

"I'm totally going to play up this injury for like two weeks to get stuff out of my parents."

"I heard that." Whitney popped her head out of the kitchen. "But I'll let it slide, since it's Christmas."

Brittany was actually shocked by the total one-eighty her mom had done, but she just bit her lip and kept her smile to herself. Instead of making a big deal out of it, she turned again to look at Santana, taking in her pretty red dress and how she looked so festive despite her earlier insistence that she just didn't care about Christmas. It felt so good to have all the people in New York that she cared about in one place and when she sat on the couch with Santana, she took her hand and squeezed it tight. She thought about how she'd only known her a few days but that she wanted to keep seeing her every day, that maybe some kind of Christmas miracle would give her the courage to ask her for more.

"Excuse me." Santana said as Brittany saw her phone ring. "I'll be right back."

Santana slipped out of the apartment and found the door that led to the roof. She took a deep breath and answered the phone. It was a call that she had been waiting for for years and she felt a little sick to her stomach, thinking that it might not be what she wanted it to be.

"Hello?"

"Santana, is that you?"

"It's me, Mami." Santana felt like she couldn't even inhale while she spoke for fear of breaking the spell of the moment. It had started to snow again and she looked up at the sky, wondering if Santa was still out there.

"It's so good to hear your voice, mija."

"You haven't called me that in a long time."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of the things I missed out on. I miss you terribly and I feel so guilty for where we left things."

"I'm not going to change." Santana told her mother cautiously. "This is who I am."

"I know that now, and I'm sorry that I ever told you that you should."

"And Papi?"

"He's still coming around to the idea, but I know that he misses you."

"I'm happy, Mami. I'm struggling to make my way here, but I'm happy. I had an audition yesterday and I've met someone wonderful that I could see myself being with for a long time. But every day, I wish you were part of it."

"I want to be. I've missed so much of your life, I don't want to miss any more."

"To tell you the truth, I'm scared to let you back in. You hurt me so bad when you told me to leave that I didn't think I'd ever recover. I can't do that again."

"I promise you, Santana, I will respect who you are. I'd love to hear about this…woman you've found and I'd love to come see you in New York. I don't deserve a second chance, but I'd love if you gave me one."

"Okay." Santana nodded to herself.

"Okay?"

"Yeah, this is all I wished for this Christmas and I'm willing to try."

"Oh, mija, I promise you it will be better than it was."

"I can't wait to see you."

"We'll talk more this week and make arrangements?"

"Yeah, that sounds really good. I'm actually at a Christmas breakfast right now, but it was so good to hear from you."

"It was the call I should have made years ago."

"Goodbye Mami, and merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you too, mi amor."

When she hung up the phone, Santana was over the moon. Everything in her screamed to be cautious, but Brittany has taught her about living life differently, about taking chances, about letting your guard down. Even after the previous night, where Santana had led everyone in a chorus of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," she hadn't been a believer fully, but Santa knew what she wanted and he gave it to her. After five years, she had an opportunity to have her mom back in her life and she was ecstatic, so ecstatic that she couldn't wait to tell Brittany.

She had a pep in her step as she walked back down the stairs and she smiled, seeing Brittany with her family. Brittany had figured out things with Whitney, Santana was going to figure out things with her mom and maybe, if the day went well, they could figure out things with each other.

"That was my mom." Santana said softly to Brittany when she sat back down on the couch.

"Your mom?" Brittany's eyes widened. "But—"

"I know. When I told you I didn't want to talk about my Christmas wish, that was it."

"I knew he would do it." Brittany grinned. "Santana, I'm so happy for you?"

"What are you so happy about?" Harry popped his head in from the kitchen.

"Just Christmas." Brittany told him, knowing Santana wouldn't want a big deal made of it.

Breakfast was a blur of good things and Brittany just felt like she could burst. She wanted to hold all of these feelings forever and ever and she could t stop looking around the table, seeing her mom, Harry, Deidre and Santana all enjoying Christmas breakfast. She'd had a lot of good Christmases before, but she was certain that this was the best one yet.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Santana asked, after Harry shooed then out of the kitchen so he could clean up.

"Definitely." Brittany nodded. "Let me get my new coat."

"I didn't even tell you how much I like your new outfit. I loved the elf getup, but this makes me think you might be sticking around."

"I have a lot of reasons to, so I'm not going anywhere."

Santana took Brittany's hand as soon as they got to the elevator and Brittany felt warm all over. When they got downstairs, the snow was really bad, but Santana insisted that they still walk. In the park, it felt a little like the nights Brittany used to sneak out on the first snow, still and magical. Everyone else seemed to be buttoned up inside, so Brittany stopped and turned to Santana, looking at the snowflakes on her eyelashes as they stood the only two people around.

"Brittany, you're magical."

"But I'm not." Brittany shook her head. "That's why I'm here and not back in the North Pole."

"I don't care what they said there, you brought magic into my life when I needed it the most. When I met you, I thought you were totally weird because what adult cares as much about Christmas as you do? But then you showed me that it was all real and I don't want it to stop just because Christmas is over tomorrow."

"Christmas magic can be all year if you let it."

"I want the magic with you. I want to be with you, I don't just want this to be some passing thing."

"No, I don't want that either. I'm serious about you."

"Good." Santana smiles, showing all of her teeth. "Because I'm serious about you too."

"Merry Christmas, Santana."

"Merry Christmas, Brittany." Santana leaned in and kissed her lips and both could swear that the heard the jingle of reindeer bells just over their heads.


End file.
